Research

DISSERTATION
My dissertation addressed two key puzzles about interactions between members of minority communities and the police, specifically with regard to counterterrorism efforts. First, why do some people alert police to crime— specifically potential extremist violence—while others do not? Contrary to conventional explanations about racial and sociodemographic differences, I found that views of law enforcement's legitimacy, trust in individual police officers, and community norms about handling conflict are the strongest predictors of citizen cooperation. So, why do some police departments do a better job developing positive relationships with minority communities to increase cooperation? I found that an officer's views of community policing and perceived social distance predict support for relationship building efforts both with minorities and in counterterrorism. I used quantitative, experimental, and qualitative methods to examine these puzzles.

PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
7. Kearns, E.M., Betus, A. & Lemieux, A. "Why Do Some Terrorist Attacks Receive More Media Attention Than Others?"
Forthcoming, Justice Quarterly.
6. Kearns, E.M. (2018). "Exploring Officer Views of Community Policing in Counterterrorism." Online first, Police Practice and
Research.
5. Kearns, E.M. & Young, J.K. (2017). "If Torture is Wrong, What about 24?: Torture and the Hollywood Effect." Online first, Crime
& Delinquency.
4. Lemieux, A., Kearns, E.M., Asal, V. & Walsh, J. (2017). "Support for Political Mobilization, Protest, and Terrorism in Egypt and
Morocco: An Online Experimental Study." Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, 10(2-3):124-142.
3. Kearns, E.M. (2017). "Why Are Some Police Officers More Supportive of Community Policing with Minorities than Others?"
  Justice Quarterly, 34(7): 1213-1245.
2. Kearns, E.M. (2015). "The Study of Torture: Why It Persists, Why Perceptions of It are Malleable, and Why It is Difficult to
     Eradicate." Laws, 5(1): 1-15.
1. Kearns, E.M., Conlon, B.L. & Young, J.K. (2014). "Lying about Terrorism." Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 37(5): 422 - 439.

BOOK CHAPTERS
2. Young, J.K. & Kearns, E.M. (2015). "Empirical Challenges to Studying Terrorism and Homicide," in The Handbook on Homicide,
eds. Fiona Brookman, Edward R. Maguire, and Mike Maguire. Wiley-Blackwell.
1. Kearns, E.M. & Young, J.K. (2013). "Military Tactics in Civil War," in The Routledge Companion to Civil War Studies, eds. Edward
Newman and Karl DeRouen. Rutledge.

UNDER REVIEW
4. Kearns, E.M. "Claims and Attributions: Why Take Credit for Terrorism?"
   *Winner of the 2016 American Society of Criminology's Division of International Criminology Outstanding Student Paper Award
*Winner of the 2015 National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) Symposium Best Student Paper Award
3. Kearns, E.M. "Why Are Some Crimes Reported to Police While Others Aren't?"
2. Kearns, E.M., Asal, V., Walsh, J. Federico, C. & Lemieux, A. "Political Action as a Function of Political Grievance and Social
Identity: An Experimental Approach."
1. Kearns, E.M., Ashooh, E. & Lowery-Kinberg, B. "Perceptions of the Police: Defining Trust and Legitimacy of Police by Race."

BOOK IN PROGRESS
1. Kearns, E.M.  & Young, J.K. "Supporting Torture." Under advanced contract with Columbia University Press.

WORKING PAPERS
6. Kearns, E.M. "If You See Something Do You Say Something?: Using Conjoint Experiments to Examine Why People Report
Potential Terrorism Activity."
5. Kearns, E.M. "Differentiating Between Legitimacy and Trust In Law Enforcement at the Institutional and Interpersonal Levels."
4. Kearns, E.M., Betus, A. & Lemieux, A. "When Data Don't Matter: Exploring Public Perceptions of Terrorism."
3. Lemieux, A., Asal, V., Walsh, J., Betus, A., & Kearns, E.M. "Intergroup Images, Grievance, and Support for Protest and
Terrorism."
2. Asal, V. & Kearns, E.M. "What Makes You Big: Why Some Insurgency Organizations Are Larger Than Others."
1. Lowery-Kinberg, B., Mellinger, H. & Kearns, E.M. "Unpacking the Black Box: How Interaction Style and Social Dominance
  Orientation Impact Perceptions of Police."

GOVERNMENT REPORTS
3. 2015. "When to Claim: A Cross-National Study of Claimed versus Unclaimed Terrorist Attacks." National Consortium for the
Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) Research Brief.
2. 2015. "The Role of Law Enforcement in Fighting Terrorism," in Comprehensive Law Enforcement Review, Department of Justice,
Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS). Consulting researcher and co-author.
1. 2015. Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS).
Consulting researcher.

RESEARCH GRANTS
8. Research Grants Committee (RGC) - $3,000, University of Alabama, 2018-2019.
7. College Academy for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (CARSCA) - $4,328, University of Alabama, 2018-2019.
6. Fellow, Peace & Violence Research Lab - $4,000, American University, 2015-2016.
5. Doctoral Research Award - $4,994, American University, 2015-2016.
4. Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Terrorism Research Award - $5,000, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses
to Terrorism, 2014-2015.
3. Faculty Research Support Grant (with Joseph K. Young) – $10,000, American University, 2014, to conduct a series of
    experiments on perceptions of counterterrorism policies.
2. School of Public Affairs Research Scholars Grant (with Joseph K. Young) – $5,000, American University, 2013, to conduct a
series of experiments on perceptions of counterterrorism policies.
1. Undergraduate Summer Scholars Grant–$2,000, Miami University, 2004

MEDIA COVERAGE
Interviews:
- "NPR's All Things Considered," (March 23, 2018)
- "Humanity in the Headlines," (February 24, 2018)
- "Colorado Public Radio," (November 9, 2017)
- "ABC Australia, Radio National," (July 6, 2017)
- NPR's "Morning Edition," (June 20, 2017)
- NPR's "Hidden Brain" podcast with Shankar Vedantam, (June 19, 2017)
- "CBS/KCBS San Francisco with Susan Kennedy," (March 19, 2017)
- "CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin," (December 10, 2014)

Web-Based Publications:
- Kearns, E.M. "An Expert on Political Violence Explains why the NRA's Ads Matter," The Trace (August 8, 2017)
- Kearns, E.M., Betus, A. & Lemieux, A., "Yes, the Media Do Underreport Some Terrorist Attacks, Just Not the Ones Most People
Think of," Washington Post (March 13, 2017)
- Kearns, E.M., "Torture Doesn't Works, So Why are We Still Discussing It?" Political Violence at a Glance (February 2, 2017)
- Kearns, E.M. & Young, J., "Dramatic depictions of torture increase support for it," Washington Post (December 12, 2014)

My Work Featured In:
- Think Progress, "America has a Skewed Perception of What Qualifies at Terrorism," (October 4, 2017)
- Foreign Policy, "The Rohingya Are the New Palestinians," (September 26, 2017)
- MSNBC with Ari Melber, "Study: Media Overrepresents Muslims as Terrorists," (July 2, 2017)
- Think Progress, "Non-Muslim Attackers Get a Lot Less Media Coverage than Those Who Claim Islam," (June 19, 2017)
- Cato Institute, "GAO Weights in on 'Countering Violent Extremism'," (April 13, 2017)
- Reason, "Do Muslims Commit Most U.S. Terrorist Attacks?" (March 24, 2017)
- The Independent, "News Media Do Under-Report Some Terrorist Attacks - Just Not Those Involving Islamist Extremists,"
  (March 13, 2017)
- Pacific Standard, "Can Jack Bauer Convince You to Torture?" (January 5, 2015)
- Vox, "Torture is a culture. Releasing the Senate report is a way of fighting it," (December 11, 2014)
- The Washington Post, "The Senate CIA report says enhanced interrogation doesn't work. But Hollywood thinks it does,"
  (December 10, 2014)
- Vox, "'24' makes people support torture, and other discoveries political scientists made this year," (September 8, 2014)